Space News Letter to Editor

--- In spacesettlers, "victoriatangoman" wrote:

> --- In spacesettlers, Al Globus wrote:

>> 4. Orbital tourism

> I picture sub-orbital tourism to be a ride to the edge of space in
> order to experience 0-G and the view.

This is the way I see it, too. But not for very long. However, it
sure beats the Concorde for point-to-point transport.

> How is orbital tourism different other than going higher? If that's
> all it is, why do you consider it to be a significant milestone?

It's harder to do, and it is needed for anything that requires more
than 15 minutes or so of weightlessness (like the sports).

>> 5. 0g retirement homes for wealthy folk who don't want to live in
>> wheel chairs

> Doesn't this presuppose an existing station, or do you just put the
> retired folk in plastic bubbles :) to float in space :)

I have to admit that I haven't given this a lot of thought.

>> 6. Asteroidal or lunar mining

> Shouldn't this come much earlier, or are you launching all of that
> mass from Earth to build the abovementioned facilities.

Well, some of the abovementioned stuff isn't so far beyond what
SpaceIslandGroup and such are planning, so can probably be done
before the NEO mining.

Xenophile (who just wishes that things would GET MOVING!)